Ramsley

Does this mean I'm going to have to hug the Golden Ram before every game from now on?

Festy is a top guy - with a heart as big as this he deserves all the success that may come his way in the future whether thats with us or not. Reading this has made my evening and restored my faith that footballers can be a positive role models ? 

We are in administration because we can’t fund the club ! We can’t have a new owner because you won’t let us have a new owner to fund the club - this is beyond nuts 

We sue both QPR and villa for loss of revenue when we lost to them in play finals and they both breached FFP. I reckon thats about £200m. If so we're in clover and the EFL are in the poo as every season will end in litigation.
The EFL need to wise up and put a stop to this litigation farce. The rules - points deductions for offenders - are what all clubs sign up to.

Wonderful film!

We remember how your fans supported us through our darkest hours.
We now have our club back and we are on our way back, but your fans were brilliant at Bloomfield Road singing all the Oyston out songs with us. We had a mini riot during that game, a night match and later that season, we started boycotting games home and away. 
Word is, our fans are 100% behind you during this hopefully short term blip in your great clubs situation. 
Good luck from the Seasiders!
 
Bri.

I like to share Johnny Russell's progress in USA as he was a good player, all round nice guy and a fan favourite when here. 
He is club captain and has carved out a similar space in people's hearts over there.
I never compare his time out there to how he was here, but every time I post a goal (and there are plenty of them) somebody comes on to pour scorn on the level of football. 
I don't care and am not particularly interested in what he would be playing like if he was still here. I am just pleased to see him doing well.

Yay, I’m going to this!! After a brain haemorrhage and then lockdown I thought I’d never get to PP again. However, I’ve recovered really well over the summer, especially worked hard to improve physically and my partner is letting my son take me to the match - he’s much more worried than I am!
So, Rams, I’d appreciate a good performance and a win - though whatever happens I’ll feel like a winner just getting there.

The bloke who sits next to me hates him and over the years has never stopped berating him - till this season, he’s mellowed no end thankfully, Fozzy has long been my unsung hero. 
A colleague knows him and his wife and says that he is a genuinely lovely man personally too. 

Well said, B4. I am sickened by some of our fans who, basically, are as intelligent as a whelk.

From all Derby fans that we are sorry what was sung to you yesterday unfortunately some people drank to much and lost all scences but does not excuse it what so ever. And if that has upset your family it is same here or sheffield untied support please do not judge all Derby fans with same brush.

I just want to apologise for the delay, my absence, my handling of the situation and try to explain what has happened.
The meeting on Wednesday was scheduled to end at 8.45pm, my last train home was 9.33pm, I slipped out just after 9pm as I didn’t have clothes, medication, toiletries with me as I wasn’t planning on staying overnight.
When the meeting had finished, an agreement was made where one statement would be written and signed off by all groups, this is the first time anything like this had been agreed, I was under the impression we would be allowed to report back as normal.
Being completely unaware of this, whilst waiting for my train I saw a conversation take place on my Twitter timeline discussing the meeting minutes, when would they be out.
I replied, that the meeting minutes were not taken and we would be sharing the information ourselves, which as I say I was under the impression would be allowed, why else attend? I thought I was being helpful.
Now I can see on reflection I was clearly naive in not appreciating the number of fans waiting online for what was said at the meeting, would see the tweet whilst was part of a conversation, which was also public and could be seen and shared by others. The tweet blew up online having been retweeted, I’m not exaggerating when I say maybe hundred or more replies, some abusive to the point where I had to turn notifications off as my phone was freezing with as I came back into an area with phone signal.
On the forum I did pre warn members not to expect anything Wednesday evening, the minutes can sometimes take a few days to a couple of weeks before being released. I was going with the intention of asking the club if the minutes could be released within 24 hours or that we could release the information immediately. Obviously once we was told the minutes would not be taken all that went out the window and believed we was free to report back immediately, and that was the plan.
Again, I was clearly naive to the fact fans on Twitter would not be aware of this, so when I wasn’t replying to all the tweets with thumbs up or down if it’s good news, or are we going to have a club next week the levels of abuse increased, despite my plea for being understanding I wasn’t in the position to do so.
With my write up, I had no intention of adding any personal opinion, it would be just what was said and allow you all to read and take it as you will.
As you will be well aware, all fans see things differently and I didn’t want to raise any expectations or disappoint fans, then receive more abuse as it wasn’t what they were expecting.
I put myself in this situation through naivety, but I don’t accept that the abuse was warranted at all, I have removed the twitter account from my devices and will no longer be active on that account, opting now for a private account as I have no interest in twitter fame.
I would seriously urge anyone that did send me abusive tweets to have a think how they talk to people online and their demands, if this is this what celebrities have to deal with on a daily basis, I’m glad I’m just a nobody!
Punjabi Rams, who I honestly can’t thank enough stepped in and put some tweets out from their account to give some information in my defence. You guys are awesome, didn’t need to do that but again, I honestly can’t thank you enough. Quick plug www.punjabirams.co.uk, @PunjabiRams on Twitter, go give them a follow if you are on there.
On the train home I started to do the write up on my notes app, realising I need to get this out asap, first thing to defuse the situation I felt I had created.
Thursday morning, as I was consulting my notes and finishing off the write up, there was a few things I wanted to fact check with the club were totally accurate, there has been times where things have been misheard in the past (Boycie ahem) and needed correcting, I didn’t want this to happen. We’re human, mistakes can happen, I believed I had time to ensure there were none.
I decided, and this was not requested by the club but to send my write up to them, asking if they could read it over and everything I had written was totally accurate, leaving ??? <—— fact checks where I was a little cautious over.
They agreed and I again naively yet again assumed that this would be back with me in a few hours……despite the previous night listening to just how busy they have been.
Now whilst I understand and totally agree that this meeting is important, the club staff are as I’m sure you can imagine really busy, now I need to really stress here that this is in no way the fault of the club, this is on me 100%.
No tweet, no forum post, none of this situation exists.
Meanwhile The Supporters Charter Group are scratching their heads as to why I’ve gone it alone, I can only apologise to them also, as I say I was under the impression that we would all be reporting back ourselves which I have explained privately with them.
A single statement isn’t something I would have been personally happy with but that is what was agreed in my absence.
I haven’t felt comfortable coming back on the forum if I'm honest, ignoring the fact I insinuated what was said at the meeting would be out Thursday on the forum, I feel like I have let you all down and for that I’m sorry.
Just to add, this apology wasn’t asked for, it's something I feel is owed to you all.
Should someone have gone that could have stayed all evening? Ideally yes, although Paul (Boycie) was unavailable to attend. Since the formation of 2017 it has only been either myself or Paul that has attended, I didn’t feel it would be right to send someone new which in hindsight was the correct call, they may have also not been able to attend until the end of what I’m led to believe turned out to be almost a 4 hour long meeting, putting themselves unwittingly into a similar situation I have.
I know you are all frustrated, the accusations of attention seeking, sitting on information, teasing, trying to get more views, followers etc. and even censorship on the forum are simply not true, they come from people that do not know me or how the forum is run at all, which is disappointing hearing it said by members that have been on the forum for a number of years now.
Finally, I do want to say thank you to those who have sent supportive texts, PM’s, DM’s, tweets you name it over the last few days, despite asking to be given time, it’s you who I put the hours in for, I will learn from this and work on handling things better in the future.
I would also like to thank the moderators who have been trying their best to keep on top of the situation, without them this forum would have crashed and burned over the last few days so please be respectful to them, even if at times you do not agree with decisions they have made. 
David
 

After years of work and research here it is !
The Derby County shirt worn in the inaugural season of 1884 by the pioneers of our club, Cambridge Blue, Amber and Chocolate Brown the first colours of the Rams, it was thought that the early colours were blue but it was a shade of blue called Cambridge Blue which is actually more of a green. The badge was the badge of the Derbyshire FA that a player was permitted to wear if they had been selected to represent the Derbyshire FA.
we have had two made by a local tailor after we sourced the correct colours and the materials, the embroidery was done separately, even down to mother of Pearl buttons, it is to add further integrity to the book but moreover to show where the club evolved from, the team that wore these colours set the precedent for all those that have followed, the shirts will be on display at our Rams Heritage roadshows later in the year.
brought to life after 137 years by Phil Lowe & Jason Shardlow.

The most depressing time for me was spring 1984, instead of being able to celebrate our centenary, we faced repeated High Court appearances to have the club wound up. The final straw appeared to have been on the day of the home defeat to Plymouth in the FA Cup quarter final. Our 'final' appeal at the high court had been thrown out earlier that day, no potential new owner seemed likely and the only hope of salvation seemed to be in a possible FA Cup final appearance. The game at home to Plymouth, struggling in div 3, with a Semi final with the next weakest team left in the competition beckoned and gave us hope. We lost to a solitary goal direct from a corner and as we made our way home, I feared that that was the last game I would see as a Derby supporter.
However, salvation, in the form of Robert Maxwell, seemed to appear from nowhere. Although, it didn't end well with Maxwell, I do wonder what would have happened to club, if he hadn't turned up when he did.

The time to panic was a while ago. This has been written in the stars for the past 12 months. Players aren't going to want to come to a club with no secure ownership, potentially a points deduction hanging over their head, with little to no players - IF they have other options on the table. 
We will sign players, we will have a team for the first game of the season, but I always said that I would imagine that all our work will go into the final 2 weeks before the season starts. I'd imagine a lot of them will be loan players to just keep the club ticking on without any long-term commitment. We face a mountainous task to even remain a Championship club. 

Right, just to warn you now that this will probably be the longest opening post you've ever read (or wisely chose to ignore) and is a mixture of fact and opinion. It is an attempt to tell a story that starts in the 60th minute at Wembley as QPR go down to 10 men and ends at the Pirelli Stadium and it's immediate aftermath. It will look at transfers, selections, managers, the chairman and key games. 
Most of the story will be in normal type. Opinion pieces will be in italics. I will write about later key games in bold.
Imagine some slightly haunting music and this page misting over before the vision in front of you becomes clear and you are sat at Wembley on 24th May 2014. Derby have been playing great football under Steve Mcclaren, moving Derby on from the NC era and are on top, Johnny Russell is running through on goal, is hacked down and yes, it's a red card, QPR down to ten men, nothing can stop us now...   
But we were stopped. Missed chances, some bad luck and some individual mistakes. Could Steve Mac we have done anything differently with a game there for the taking? As QPR began to defend their penalty box with massed ranks, I would agree with Dawkins coming on for Russell, but taking Hughes off instead of Hendrick simply didn't make sense with the task in hand and when we were pumping cross after cross into their box, why wasn't Bamford brought on until injury time?
In the close season, Wisdom and Bamford's loan spell ended, but after a saga Thorne's loan was made permanent as was that of Zak Whitbread. We also brought in Cyrus Christie permanently and also Ibe, Shotton, Mascarell and Best on loan.
So what of these signings and loans? Thorne was been a class player, but injuries have meant he has missed 2/3 of our games since, and there are doubts as to whether he will ever realise the potential we all saw in him. Whitbread was only ever a cover player and as such did his job. Christie started off like a runaway train attacking with gusto but like runaway trains he doesn't have a destination or know his station. He now over complicates matters going forward meaning his attacking play doesn't overcome his lack of positional sense and defensive instincts. Shotton never really looked like a Premier League player and became like Whitbread, a cover CB.
The next 3 loans all became more key to our season in different ways. Mascarell helped plug the gap till Thorne was fit, but didn't have Eustace's defensive nous, but we were to miss him after his injury, more of that later. Best was mean to be cover for Martin but was abject. In the early games that he played or came on as sub left fans with little confidence that he could replace Martin in the event of injury, a lack of confidence which was to come back to haunt us later that season. Ibe gave us a lift and real pace, something we have tried to replicate in recent months to little effect. His recall by Liverpool was one of 3 negative turning points in the 2014/15 season.  
Ibe was recalled 2 days before we played Forest at home. We were top of the league with Bournemouth and playing great football but were also missing Eustace who had been sent off at Ipswich in injury time the game before to secure a 1-0 win. Bent had come in on loan but had yet to make an appearance. Forest had only won 2 games in 20 and despite losing Ibe and Eustace who had also picked up an injury, we had signed Albentosa from Eibar, we were a hive of activity,,surely nothing could stop us now...
One nil up at half time, playing pretty well. After Hendrick comes on for Hughes we don't play so well in the second half but Forest only just had their first attempt on target when in the 73rd minute and Mascarell gives away an unnecessary foul 35 yards out and gets booked. Forest score from the free kick and Steve Mac brings on Bent to go 442. Derby press but don't look like scoring and the game goes into injury time looking like a draw.  Grant kicks the ball long towards Bent and it is headed clear, Christie has run recklessly 20 yards past his man and Forest are breaking Mascarell has a 50/50 ball to win on the halfway line, a foul would mean a red card and he does the opposite to Eustace at Ipswich and tries to nick the ball unsuccessfully, Forest have a 3 on 2, Keogh backs off trying to buy time and it's 2-1.   The seeds of doubt are sown.
Derby recover to win their next 2 games and Ince and Lingard come in on loan, we go on to beat an awful Bolton 4-1 with new boy Ince scoring 2. We are equal top with Bournemouth again and that is our next game, away on the south coast.
Derby had an awful start to the game, conceding in the 12th minute, with Hughes and Mascarell failing to track Ritchie, then Martin went off injured in the 15th minute, to be replaced by Bent. Ince equalises after linking with Bent and Bent equalises later after good work by Dawkins. Bournemouth end up hanging on in the game, bringing on full backs to play as wingers, Derby look the better team.
So why was this period a negative turning point? Eustace was out for while and Thorne was some way from returning. Mascarell was showing signs of defensive frailty and Martin, the fulcrum of our attacking play for 18 months was out. Surely we needed a DCM and a target man in on loan or to buy. Instead we loaned in 2 wingers. The senior of which Ince whilst a constant goal threat, wasn't suited to our quick tempo, passing game. Bent scored goals, but couldn't hold the ball up. Derby fans were looking to the physio room for good news on Thorne and Martin. What we didn't know at the time was Grant was also injured with a torn calf muscle that inhibited his coming out for crosses.
We drew the next game at Rotherham 3-3 with Grant and Mascarell both being at fault for goals. Though we won our next 2, the team look disjointed and and only won 2 of the next 12 games, drawing our last away games 4-4 and 3-3 away at Huddersfield and Millwall respectively. In the middle of this run, was a draw that felt like a defeat. Meanwhile, Newcastle were tracking Steve Mac who offered a limited disinterest. 
Derby had Birmingham at home, Bent was out injured and Russell was playing up front with Ince and Ward either side of him, Albentosa was in for Buxton. Derby go 2 nil up through Ward and Ince and the 90 minutes are up with Derby having a free kick in their own box. Christie passes to Ince who is immediately under pressure on the touchline 30 yards from his own goal. Christie and Hendrick both make runs beyond Ince instead of offering him a pass. Ince is robbed of the ball and chases his man into the area. The ref gives a dodgy penalty and it's game on. They get a corner, there's an almighty scramble and it's 2-2. Two points thrown away due to lack of defensive nous and the nerves are shredded.
However due to our early season form we entered the last game against Reading at home needing to draw to secure a play off place.
Hughes and Albentosa contrive to give a goal away in the first minutes and we are playing dreadfully. Somehow we get a penalty in the last minute of the first half. Bent misses, We concede 2 more in the second half and from a seemingly unassailable position we finish 8th.       
So where did it go wrong? Injuries and misguided recruitment or the spectre of Newcastle?.
Losing Thorne in pre season was a blow but Eustace and to some extent Mascarell were keeping us in the top two. but as soon as Eustace was injured, we had to get a DCM in. We didn't. As so as Martin was injured, we had to get a target man in. We didn't.
We ended up with Ince, Bent and Lingard. Ince and Bent scored goals, but you defend from the front and both players are only really interested in the final or penultimate ball in a move. When you could get the ball to them near their box they were good, but you were trying to do that with 9 men.  
If Eustace and Martin hadn't got injured I believe we would have gone up in the top 2. If Mascarell and Buxton hadn't got injured we'd have finished in the play offs. However you expect to pick up injuries over the season and our failure was to provide cover for Martin and a replacement for Eustace.
Now what about the Newcastle rumours? How much of a part did they play in our demise? I think only Steve Mac and maybe the players could answer that. We are just guessing it did, maybe Mel was guessing too.
Volume 2: O My Darling Clement will come when my fingers and eyes recover.